Artists (105)
This is a list of our speakers on the FEST Music Festival 2012.
Children categories
Live at the Library (20)
Live At The Library concert series is a joint effort of Kemptville Live Music Festival and the Kemptville Campus Education and Community Centre. The project is intended to provide community cultural impact and an opportunity for a little bit of music therapy for our audience, artists and industry partners in these unsettling times. Enjoy!
A veteran of the Ottawa music scene, Ray Harris is a prolific and likeable storyteller who describes his music as "Ameri-Canadiana" - his songs have been described as finely crafted, drawing favourable comparison to master songsmiths. He wears his influences on his sleeve - incorporating strong elements of honkytonk country, rockabilly, folk and roots rock into a distinctly identifiable sound.
Ray's 3rd release, Kinda Sets The Tone (2016) is a collection of mighty fine tunes. The title track and first single off the album, "Kinda Sets The Tone", swings its way right across your heartbreak. His wry humour glints in "Rain On Your Thunder (The Spanish Imposition)", a passion for cars and family shines clearly in "Big Old American Cars" and "Margaret's Waltz" is touching love song. This album's thirteen full band tracks cover the gamut from blues to country to folk.
Ray's previous releases received favourable praise as well...
"East End, West End, North End, South End" (2009), gave us rootsy music worthy of our time. "The deep emotion of the lyrics is matched by a lived-in, dense instrumentation of guitar, pedal steel, banjo and organ" Fateema Sayani, Ottawa Citizen
"Poorly Kept Secrets" (2012), was called "the best of Canada's 'new wave' (of country music)" by Country Music People magazine, UK.
"Ray Harris, veteran of the Ottawa music scene, should be a secret no more" Kickin' Cuts, Country Music People Magazine (UK)
The Cooper Brothers first gained international attention with their hit singles “The Dream Never Dies”, "Rock and Roll Cowboys" and “I’ll Know Her When I See Her” all charted on The Billboard Hot 100.
In 1980, “The Dream Never Dies” earned an A.S.C.A.P Award as one of the most performed songs on U.S radio.
At the height of their career, the band toured extensively with such diverse artists as The Doobie Brothers, Joe Cocker, Charlie Daniels and the Atlanta Rhythm Section.
Terry Tufts is a finger-style guitarist living off-grid with his wife and daughter in the bush in North Frontenac, Ontario.
He has been playing music for enjoyment since 1963 and as a profession since 1974 upon completing high school and moving to Fredericton, New Brunswick pursuing his own musical career as a singer-songwriter, guitarist, session musician and sideman for a variety of artists including Susan Aglukark, George Fox, Colleen Peterson, Laura Smith, Ian Tamblyn, Tracey Brown, Wayne Rostad, Tom Paxton, Kathryn Briggs, Marie Lynn Hammond, David Francey, Steel Rail, Melwood Cutlery, Lynn Miles, Bill Garrett & Sue Lothrop, The Arrogant Worms.
He is currently, along with pianist Kathryn Briggs, and double bassist John Geggie, writing and performing music inspired by the life story and canvases of Group of Seven inspiration Tom Thomson as part of The Algonquin Ensemble, a sextet consisting of Kathryn, John, Lisa Moody - Viola, Laura Nerenberg - Violin, Margaret Tobolowska - Cello, Terry on various fretted instruments. Their sold out premiere performance was July 9th, 2017 in Kleinburg, Ontario at The McMichael Canadian Art Collection.
Take a blazing horn section, throw down some bombastic drums, pepper in piano and guitar, then stir in vocals shifting from sweet to soulful to sultry quicker than you can hop onto the dance floor. And you will hop onto the dance floor because that’s a recipe for groove-making. It’s ingredients for crowd shaking. It sizzles. It pops. It jumps. It jives. It’s The Commotions and the taste is soulicious!
Putting the motion in The Commotions are 12 band members including three lead singers and a wild five-piece horn section with a mighty dose of trumpets and sax. This group is ready to command crowds with brassy beats and smooth ballad treats, all about bringing back the spirit of those super Soul sounds of the 70s and the Motown rhythms that once had them dancing in the streets.
They’ve brought the funky groove to festivals, television and two smokin’ studio albums, ready to drop a blazing-hot third release in 2023. If The Commotions are spinning on your sound system or hitting a stage near you, that bygone beat is moving to the forefront of your feet and a party is about to erupt. You can bank on it!
You can capsulize most pop music acts by reciting how many hits they’ve had and how many millions of albums they’ve sold. But these conventional measurements fall short when you’re assessing the impact of The Beach Boys. This band has birthed a torrent of hit singles and sold albums by the tens of millions. But its greater significance lies in the fact that it changed the musical landscape so profoundly that every pop act since has been in its debt.
The Beach Boys are led by Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, who along with Jeffrey Foskett, Brian Eichenburger, Tim Bonhomme, John Cowsill and Scott Totten continue the legacy of the iconic American band. Grammy-winning songwriter Bruce Johnston, joined The Beach Boys in 1965, replacing Glenn Campbell, who filled-in for Brian Wilson, on vocals/bass, when he retired from touring. Highly regarded in his field, Johnston’s vocal work with such legendary artists as Elton John and Pink Floyd firmly established him among rock’s elite artists.
Captained by Mike Love, The Beach Boys play an astoundingly busy schedule of concerts, averaging 150 shows a year, ranging from sundrenched summer festivals to gala New Year’s celebrations and special events across the globe.
Most recently, The Beach Boys celebrated the 50th anniversary of the hit “Good Vibrations,” which is widely considered one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of rock and roll. The band commemorated this prolific time in the life of the Beach Boys with a 50 Years of Good Vibrations tour. Additionally, front man Mike Love released his highly-anticipated memoir titled GOOD VIBRATIONS: My Life as a Beach Boy, in September 2016.
The Beach Boys have continued to create and perform with the same bold imagination and style that marked their explosive debut over 50 years ago. In 2013, their Capitol Records release, Sounds of Summer (RIAA certified triple platinum with over three million in sales and climbing), and its companion The Warmth of the Sun marked a resurgence in Beach Boys interest that again rocked the world.
Even more than the Beatles, The Beach Boys found through their music the key to unfading youth— and they made copies for everyone. To these guys, the beach isn’t just a place where the surf comes to play— it’s where life is renewed and made whole again.
Had this remarkable band been less committed to its art and its fans, it could have retired from the field with honor at dozens of points along the way, confident that it had made a lasting contribution to world culture. It could have rested on the success of the epoch-shifting Pet Sounds masterpiece in 1966… or after Mike Love’s concept album Endless Summer ignited a second generation of Beach Boys fans and stirred a tempest that rocked the music world… or after recording Love’s co-written Golden Globe nominated “Kokomo” in 1988 and seeing it become its best selling single ever… or after being inducted that same year into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame… or after watching its worldwide album sales blow past l00 million… or after winning the NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001 [along with The Who, Bob Marley, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr. and Les Paul]. And still, The Beach Boys continue to have fun, fun, fun, with no end in sight. In 2012, The Beach Boys scheduled a 74 concert date limited 50th
Anniversary Reunion Tour which was scheduled as a limited run reunion tour and ended in the U.S. July 15th and internationally on Sept 28th in which the original members reunited and released "That's Why God Made the Radio." The album debuted at #3 on the Billboard charts, their highest chart position in 37 years and an unprecedented milestone.
Few, if any, acts can match The Beach Boys’ concert presence, spirit and performance. They were center-stage at Live Aid, multiple Farm Aids, the Statue of Liberty’s 100th Anniversary Salute, the Super Bowl and the White House. On one day alone—
July 4, 1985— they played to nearly 2 million fans at shows in Philadelphia and Washington, D. C.
Love’s role as the band’s front man sometimes overshadows his stature as one of rock’s foremost songwriters. “Surfin’,” The Beach Boys’ first hit came from his pen. With his cousin, Brian Wilson, Love wrote the classics “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “I Get Around,” “Help Me Rhonda,” “California Girls” and the Grammy nominated “Good Vibrations.” Years later, he showed he still had the lyrical chops by co-writing the irresistible and chart-topping “Kokomo.”
On The Beach Boys’ horizon is a continued national/world tour and charity activities through Mike Love’s Love Foundation, which supports national environmental and educational initiatives. Love and The Beach Boys’ recent efforts raised over a quarter of a million dollars for the Red Cross to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina and made additional contributions to the disaster relief in Haiti.
The band has appeared on countless worldwide TV shows throughout the years including: The Ed Sullivan Show, Dick Clark’s American Bandstand and The Tonight Show. Other television appearances include performances on Don Imus’ MSNBC show Imus In The Morning, TNT’s NBA All-Star Game, NBC’s Macy’s Day Parade, The Today Show, PBS’ A Capitol Fourth, Good Morning America, Weekend Today, The O’Reilly Factor.
Kemptville native Rod Baird, has been a singer/songwriter for over three decades.
He has recorded under various band names & contributed to compilation cds though the 90's.
His first original release Wound (pronounced Wow-nd) was in 2000.
He released an acoustic album digitally in 2012 entitled 'live at studio 106', and he has continued to write & record to this day.
If your taste in music leans to hard driving southern rock, then Southbound is the band for you. Formed 6 years ago, Southbound have been entertaining audiences all around the Ottawa region with their renditions of the best in southern rock n' roll. Performing hits from greats like Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, The Black Crowes, ZZ Top, Blackberry Smoke and more, they're sure to play your favorites. Southbound are regulars headlining many of Ottawa's annual festivals and have also opened locally for The Killer Dwarfs and The Box, plus played most of the top Ottawa bar scene venues. A mix of experienced talented musicians, Southbound are Rob Balsillie (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Pat Dugas (drums and vocals), Rob Sands (bass) and Luke Jones (lead guitar).
Reviewers have described Wicked Grin as stripped-down blues-rockers with the distinctive and winning voice of Murray Kinsley, biting guitar-work, awesome harmonica, and a rhythm section that swings with reckless, casual precision. On the road roughly 200 days a year, the band brings their “hellaciously rockin’ set of get-up-off-your-butt-and-dance blues” to venues and festivals across Canada, the US, England, and Germany.
Based in Ottawa, Canada, this multi-Maple Blues Award-winning band has recorded three discs since 2011, two of which were named Blues Rock Album of the Year by Western Canada’s Blues Underground Network (2013’s Shame On Me and 2015’s Stormy Water).
On top of their packed touring schedule, in 2018 Wicked Grin will be recording a new album, with renowned engineer/producer Nick Blagona (Cat Stevens, Deep Purple, The Sheepdogs). Look for it in late summer!
To the journey